Fluorite on Quartz

Huanggang Fe-Sn deposit, Hexigten Banner (Keshiketeng Co.), Chifeng City (Ulanhad League; Chifeng Prefecture), Inner Mongolia, China

Rounded, deep blue fluorite crystals scattered over bright white quartz: few fluorite combinations offer a contrast this strong. The larger crystals are a dark midnight blue, almost black, while many of the smaller ones are transparent and glow an intense, vivid blue. All are dodecahedral, with softly rounded faces and edges, a shape that is unusual for fluorite. The white quartz forms broad crystals with a frosted, sugary surface; the largest, on the right, is 7 cm long. The fluorite gathers along their edges and in the hollows between them, as if the blue had been poured over the white. The specimen comes from the No. 4 mine at Huanggang in Inner Mongolia, China, where a pocket of this rounded blue fluorite was found in 2014. The find was unlike anything Huanggang had produced before, it has not been repeated, and its pieces have since become well known among collectors.